As the 2026 election season accelerates, one theme is cutting through the noise: Americans are worried about costs. Inflation and affordability dominate the concerns of Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike, and increasingly, voters see digital costs as part of that same household budget that includes groceries, gas, eggs and rent. The price of internet access, online content, and the personalized ads that keep so much of the web free has quietly become a kitchen-table issue.
New polling from Internet for Growth and Echelon Insights shows why. Voters overwhelmingly believe digital tools are essential to economic life, and they are deeply skeptical of policies that would raise costs. That skepticism cuts across partisan lines. A majority of voters, including nearly two-thirds of independents, say they would be less likely to support candidates who vote to increase regulation of digital tools. Trump and Harris voters, despite stark differences, show near-identical resistance to policies that would increase digital costs.
Here’s why. When digital tools get more expensive, everyday life does too. Families lose access to free online content. Small businesses lose customers. Communities lose jobs. And these effects ripple far beyond Silicon Valley.
Small businesses, in particular, feel these pressures first. Even modest increases in advertising costs can force painful decisions: reducing staff hours, raising prices, or pulling back on growth. Research from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council shows that online advertising saves small businesses more than $10,000 a year and nearly 10 hours per week and that kind of efficiency can determine whether a business hires or stalls. Voters understand this. Ninety-four percent say digital tools are vital for small business success, and 78% say digital advertising helps small businesses find customers and support local hiring. More than half of voters now discover local businesses through digital channels — with 39% turning to social media and another 18% relying on search. Digital visibility isn’t optional anymore; it’s the new storefront on Main Street.
This reality includes digital creators, who are increasingly small businesses themselves. Younger voters are the most likely to rely on digital channels to find products and services, and are also the most supportive of personalized advertising. For many young Americans, ad-supported platforms and streaming services aren’t just entertainment; they are on-ramps to income, entrepreneurship, and the broader creator economy, which now supports more than 1.5 million full-time equivalent jobs, according to research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Yet some policy proposals moving through state legislatures risk doing exactly the opposite of what voters want. For example, Maryland’s digital ad tax has created compliance headaches while delivering far less revenue than promised, a cautionary reminder that digital regulations can misfire and leave local businesses footing the bill. Washington’s new tax on digital marketing services exempts legacy media and has local tech and marketing firms warning that the added costs could push them to scale back operations or relocate out of state. Digital advertising taxes have appeared in New York, California, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and other states.
At the federal level, Congress has considered proposals that would restrict personalized advertising, limit everyday customer data, dismantle ad-supported services that keep digital content affordable, or preserve the costly state-by-state privacy patchwork. Members have also floated digital advertising taxes similar to those now advancing in the states. Past privacy bills raised similar concerns by preserving fragmented state laws that would drive up compliance costs, especially for small businesses. The House Privacy Working Group signals progress toward addressing these issues—but the debate shows how easily tech policy can miss the mark when Main Street isn’t front and center.
Voters are wary of these and other policies that would drive up costs for families, creators, and the small businesses voters overwhelmingly want to protect. Eighty-seven percent believe regulations aimed at “Big Tech” inevitably spill over onto small businesses, and 85% say limits on personalized ads would reduce access to free content and services. These are not speculative fears. They are direct costs that voters feel and they carry political consequences for lawmakers in both parties.
The message for 2026 is clear: digital tools are now part of the affordability conversation. They help local businesses compete, keep costs down for families, and expand access to opportunity. Whether through taxes, unnecessarily and unfairly sweeping restrictions, or inconsistent state laws, policies that raise the price of these tools will hit small businesses, workers, and households long before they impact the companies they’re nominally aimed at.
If policymakers wish to address voter concerns about affordability and economic stability, they must treat digital tools as the infrastructure they have become. Just as roads and broadband connect communities, affordable access to digital advertising connects consumers with the Main Street businesses that drive the American economy. Any effort to raise the cost of that infrastructure, especially during an election year, risks economic harm and political backlash.
